A ration balancer is just a name for a nutrient dense feed that delivers all the nutrients a horse on a forage based diet needs without alot of calories and sugars.

My Sr feed is not grain based like a traditional feed you might think of with corn and oats etc. I only use this when I need to add calories as it can be percentaged easily with my 30% balancer and not throw levels off. I try to keep all my horses on a low non structural carbohydrate program. Grains are usually quite high in those as a rule. Im not opposed to oats. I have fed them before but had to still buy a balancer to complete a nutrient profile.
Here is its page with ingredient listing.

Right. I'm just saying that nutrition (and value) is what guides my purchasing. I want the most bang for my buck so completely balanced rations are usually more cost effective and less steps at feed time.

I buy oats in the summer because i can get 800 lbs for 67$ the TC senior i pay 23 dollars a 50lb bag. So i feed more oats in summer to cut feed cost our horses get riden hard 6 days a week. The oats make my horse more hot and ready to go go go we cover a lot of miles that way.

Wow. Oats here were 8 dollars for 50 lbs of &quot;race horse oats&quot; but that was 5 or 6 years ago. Im certain its higher now.

I buy them from a local farmer hes way cheaper then the feed stores. I bought 800 from feed store it was 126. Local fleet farm 50lbs of oats is 11 dollars a bag. I can get 1,100 pounds for 87 dollars from farmer so yeah thats why i feed more oats then TC senior. Mind you my horses get NO grain in winter months thats from NOV to March. I feed grain starting in april when we start riding. The feeding is forage based for the most part.

Right. I'm just saying that nutrition (and value) is what guides my purchasing. I want the most bang for my buck so completely balanced rations are usually more cost effective and less steps at feed time.

Sorry, I was responding to Anebel re: the article. What you're saying makes sense.

As to their safety, they are safer than most grains. I went to a farm several years ago. The owner had a lot of 2 year old colts that he was trying to get to gain weight. He had a giant feeder that was full of oats. These colts had oats in front of them 24/7. I almost had a heart attack, but none of the colts got sick.

Mine are getting a small amt of oats cut in with their ration balancer (Progessive's ProAdvantage). It was recommended by a nutritionist, I personally don't think they need them but it makes them think they are getting a "real meal" because they all only get a lb of ration balancer each day. This may make me a horrible person but I kind of like that there are always a few that don't get digested, the birds then pick through the manure and I don't have to harrow poo in the pastures :)

If I had any IR horses, I wouldn't feed them.

I feed a small amount (3 cups) of whole oats mixed with a 1/2 cup of whole flax and a cup of a local mixed ration balancer (Northwest Horse Supplement for dry mares and stallions). It's a small amount of grain, has no sugar, and is all whole grain. The oats just make the meal a little bigger. The flax has improved coats and weight maintenance. The ration balancer (called supplement out here in Oregon) is made for our region to balance out our local grass and hay supplies. Otherwise, it's all grass hay or forage on our fields. I like how the birds help spread manure for me too!Posted via Mobile Device

Register Now

In order to be able to post messages on the The Horse Forum forums, you must first register.

Already have a Horse Forum account?
Members are allowed only one account per person at the Horse Forum, so if you've made an account here in the past you'll need to continue using that account. Please do not create a new account or you may lose access to the Horse Forum. If you need help recovering your existing account, please Contact Us. We'll be glad to help!

New to the Horse Forum?Please choose a username you will be satisfied with using for the duration of your membership at the Horse Forum. We do not change members' usernames upon request because that would make it difficult for everyone to keep track of who is who on the forum. For that reason, please do not incorporate your horse's name into your username so that you are not stuck with a username related to a horse you may no longer have some day, or use any other username you may no longer identify with or care for in the future.

User Name:

Password

Please enter a password for your user account. Note that passwords are case-sensitive.

Password:

Confirm Password:

Email Address

Please enter a valid email address for yourself.

Email Address:

OR

Log-in

User Name

Password

Remember Me?

Human Verification

In order to verify that you are a human and not a spam bot, please enter the answer into the following box below based on the instructions contained in the graphic.

Old Thread Warning

This thread is more than 90 days old. When a thread is this old, it is often better to start a new thread rather than post to it. However, If you feel you have something of value to add to this particular thread, you can do so by checking the box below before submitting your post.I am aware that this is an old thread and I want to revive it rather than starting a new thread.